Police searching PA woods for suspected cop killer find pipe bombs

Eric Frein is escorted to a preliminary hearing on Monday, Jan. 5, 2015 at the Pike County Courthouse in Milford, Pa. Frein, 31, of Canadensis, is the lone suspect in the Sept. 12, 2014 shooting outside the Blooming Grove state police barracks in Pike County that killed Cpl. Bryon Dickson and seriously wounded Trooper Alex Douglass. Police say Frein led law enforcement on a 48-day manhunt through the Pocono woods before U.S. marshals captured him Oct. 30 near an abandoned airplane hangar. (Harry Fisher/Allentown Morning Call/TNS via Getty Images)

CRESCO, PA - OCTOBER 31: Scott Malkowski, Task Force Commander, US Marshals Service, Special Operations Group, talks with members of the media while he explains how Eric Matthew was captured on Thursday night, on October 31, 2014 in Cresco, Pennsylvania. Frein, a suspected cop killer, was taken into custody from a Pennsylvania airport hangar after a seven-week manhunt. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

First look inside abandoned hangar where Eric Frein hid from police: The search for suspected cop killer Eric Frein is over, but there are still questions about how he was able to stay on the run for so long. (WNEP-TV)

First look inside abandoned hangar where Eric Frein hid from police: The search for suspected cop killer Eric Frein is over, but there are still questions about how he was able to stay on the run for so long. (WNEP-TV)

First look inside abandoned hangar where Eric Frein hid from police: The search for suspected cop killer Eric Frein is over, but there are still questions about how he was able to stay on the run for so long. (WNEP-TV)

Pennsylvania State Police say they remain confident that Eric Frein, the man suspected of killing a trooper in an ambush attack and injuring another, is still in the general search area.

First look inside abandoned hangar where Eric Frein hid from police: The search for suspected cop killer Eric Frein is over, but there are still questions about how he was able to stay on the run for so long. (WNEP-TV)

MILFORD, PA - OCTOBER 31: Eric Frein arrives for arraignment to court on October 31, 2014 in Milford, Pennsylvania. Frein, a suspected cop killer, was taken into custody from a Pennsylvania airport hangar after a seven-week manhunt. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

First look inside abandoned hangar where Eric Frein hid from police: The search for suspected cop killer Eric Frein is over, but there are still questions about how he was able to stay on the run for so long. (WNEP-TV)

First look inside abandoned hangar where Eric Frein hid from police: The search for suspected cop killer Eric Frein is over, but there are still questions about how he was able to stay on the run for so long. (WNEP-TV)

First look inside abandoned hangar where Eric Frein hid from police: The search for suspected cop killer Eric Frein is over, but there are still questions about how he was able to stay on the run for so long. (WNEP-TV)

First look inside abandoned hangar where Eric Frein hid from police: The search for suspected cop killer Eric Frein is over, but there are still questions about how he was able to stay on the run for so long. (WNEP-TV)

First look inside abandoned hangar where Eric Frein hid from police: The search for suspected cop killer Eric Frein is over, but there are still questions about how he was able to stay on the run for so long. (WNEP-TV)

CRESCO, PA - OCTOBER 31: A Pocono Police car sits on the route to the hangar where Eric Matthew was captured on Thursday night, on October 31, 2014 in Cresco, Pennsylvania. Frein, a suspected cop killer, was taken into custody from a Pennsylvania airport hangar after a seven-week manhunt. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

MILFORD, PA - OCTOBER 31: Eric Frein arrives for arraignment to court on October 31, 2014 in Milford, Pennsylvania. Frein, a suspected cop killer, was taken into custody from a Pennsylvania airport hangar after a seven-week manhunt. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

CRESCO, PA - OCTOBER 31: Scott Malkowski, Task Force Commander, US Marshals Service, Special Operations Group, show the map of the operation in which they captured Eric Matthew Frein on Thursday night while he talks with members of the media on October 31, 2014 in Cresco, Pennsylvania. Frein, a suspected cop killer, was taken into custody from a Pennsylvania airport hangar after a seven-week manhunt. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

MILFORD, PA - OCTOBER 31: A Pennsylvania State Police SWAT officer stands by as Eric Frein arrives at the Pike County Courthouse for his arraignment on October 31, 2014 in Milford, Pennsylvania. Frein, a suspected cop killer, was taken into custody from a Pennsylvania airport hangar after a seven-week manhunt. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

CRESCO, PA - OCTOBER 31: Scott Malkowski, Task Force Commander, US Marshals Service, Special Operations Group, show the map of the operation in which they captured Eric Matthew Frein on Thursday night while he talks with members of the media on October 31, 2014 in Cresco, Pennsylvania. Frein, a suspected cop killer, was taken into custody from a Pennsylvania airport hangar after a seven-week manhunt. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

MILFORD, PA - OCTOBER 31: Pennsylvania State Police SWAT officers arrive at the Pike County Courthouse for Eric Frein's arraignment on October 31, 2014 in Milford, Pennsylvania. Frein, a suspected cop killer, was taken into custody from a Pennsylvania airport hangar after a seven-week manhunt. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

CRESCO, PA - OCTOBER 31: A Pocono Police car sits on the route to the hangar where Eric Matthew was captured on Thursday night, on October 31, 2014 in Cresco, Pennsylvania. Frein, a suspected cop killer, was taken into custody from a Pennsylvania airport hangar after a seven-week manhunt. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

MILFORD, PA - OCTOBER 31: Lt. Col. George Bivens of the state police attends a press conference in the front of the court house after Eric Frein makes first court appearance on October 31, 2014 in Milford, Pennsylvania. Frein, a suspected cop killer, was taken into custody from a Pennsylvania airport hangar after a seven-week manhunt. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

MILFORD, PA - OCTOBER 31: Lt. Col. George Bivens of the state police speaks at a press conference in the front of the court house after Eric Frein makes first court appearance on October 31, 2014 in Milford, Pennsylvania. Frein, a suspected cop killer, was taken into custody from a Pennsylvania airport hangar after a seven-week manhunt. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

CRESCO, PA - OCTOBER 31: Scott Malkowski, Task Force Commander, US Marshals Service, Special Operations Group, gestures as he explain how Eric Matthew reacts when he was captured on Thursday night, while he talks with members of the media on October 31, 2014 in Cresco, Pennsylvania. Frein, a suspected cop killer, was taken into custody from a Pennsylvania airport hangar after a seven-week manhunt. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

Pike County District Attorney Raymond Tonkin insisted Thursday evening that he would seek the death penalty against Frein. (CNN)

Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan insisted that Frein was captured not because he was tired, but "because he was caught -- he had no choice." (CNN)

UNSPECIFIED - UNDATED: In this handout provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Eric Matthew Frein, 31, poses on an unspecified date and location. Eric Frein is being sought in the killing of State Trooper Bryon Dickson. (Photo by Federal Bureau of Investigation via Getty Images)

Pennsylvania State Police released images Wednesday of what they believe ambush suspect Eric Frein might look like now.

Pennsylvania State Police released images Wednesday of what they believe ambush suspect Eric Frein might look like now.

The Inn at Buck Hill, an abandoned Pocono Mountains resort that is being scoured by investigators as they hunt for accused cop killer Eric Frein. (Pennsylvania State Police)

One of the many caves search teams are tasked with clearing as they hunt down the wanted man. (Pennsylvania State Police)

Eric Frein is escorted to a preliminary hearing on Monday, Jan. 5, 2015 at the Pike County Courthouse in Milford, Pa. Frein, 31, of Canadensis, is the lone suspect in the Sept. 12, 2014 shooting outside the Blooming Grove state police barracks in Pike County that killed Cpl. Bryon Dickson and seriously wounded Trooper Alex Douglass. Police say Frein led law enforcement on a 48-day manhunt through the Pocono woods before U.S. marshals captured him Oct. 30 near an abandoned airplane hangar. (Harry Fisher/Allentown Morning Call/TNS via Getty Images)

Police searching the Pennsylvania woods for a suspected cop killer found explosives and have also sighted him from about a football field away.

Two pipe bombs were uncovered Tuesday morning by officers combing the dense Pocono Mountains forest for survivalist Eric Frein, Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said during a Tuesday afternoon press conference.

Cops also sighted Frein, wearing dark clothing, from a distance of about 75-100 yards away but were unable to apprehend him because of how dense the woods are, Bivens added.

The pipe bombs found came in addition to an AK-47 and ammunition recovered last week. Authorities believe that by slowly recovering Frein's arsenal they are weakening his ability to survive much longer, according to Bivens.

The devices were not armed and officers were not considered to be in immediate danger, said Bivens, but they were able to be armed and used if Frein had been present.

"Experts from within our agency have looked at them and assure me they are a functional device," he added.

It is also believed that there are multiple instances where officers had surrounded the man suspected of murdering Pennsylvania State Trooper Bryon Dickson and wounding Trooper Alex Douglass, but that he was able to get away.

"We have had situations where we had fairly tight perimeters and we had hoped to have contained him... he's managed to escape," Bivens lamented.

"Because of the type of terrain and the distance of roads in the area, it is not easy to set up a secure perimeter," he added. "It allows him in some cases, even though he's been seen, to get away."

Bivens shot down the notion that the discovery of explosives being found was good enough reason to bring in the National Guard to assist with the search effort.

"We have the resources to deal with this," he insisted. "We have always known this was a possibility."

The 18-day search for Frein, now the FBI's most-wanted fugitive, has shown little signs of winding down. Reporters asking for cost estimates for the search were immediately rebuffed.

Authorities now believe, despite earlier reports Frein planned fleeing into the woods, that the suspected sniper did not plan for this outcome.

"I don't think this was his original plan," said Bivens. "He had planned to some degree for this possibility, but I do not think this was his plan... it is not a very good plan."

Cops have also uncovered several places where Frein is believed to have stayed, but they could also have been hunting blinds for deer hunters, Bivens admitted.

He would not confirm what other possessions of Freins have been found in the woods. Bivens also declined to say if the woods had been booby-trapped by Frein or not.

Addressing previous rumors that Trooper Douglass was targeted by Frein for personal reasons, Bivens also said the incident was random.

"We have found nothing to suggest those troopers were specifically targeted," he said.

Trooper Douglass, according to Bivens, is slowly recovering but "in good spirits."